Michael Gary Foltynewicz (/foʊltɪˈnɛvɪtʃ/;[1] born October 7, 1991), nicknamed "Folty", is an American former professional baseball pitcher.

He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Houston Astros, Atlanta Braves, and Texas Rangers.

[2] He says that his parents, Gary and Cindy Foltynewicz, both developed elbow problems one summer due to throwing him so many pitches during batting practice.

[5][6] He planned to attend the University of Texas at Austin, but decided to enter professional baseball when he was chosen in the draft.

[8] In 2012, Foltynewicz was the Astros Minor League Pitcher of the Year after going 14–4 with a 3.14 earned run average (ERA) and 125 strikeouts in 152 innings pitched.

[9][10] The next season, Foltynewicz pitched seven games (five starts) for the Class A Advanced Lancaster JetHawks and earned a 1–0 record with a 3.81 ERA.

He finished the season with the Class AA Corpus Christi Hooks, starting 16 of 23 games on the way to a 5–3 record, a 2.87 ERA and three saves.

At the time of his promotion, Foltynewicz had a 7–7 record with a 5.08 ERA at Class AAA Oklahoma City, where he registered 100 strikeouts in 102+2⁄3 innings.

[3] Though he was a starting pitcher in Oklahoma City, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said that the team would use Foltynewicz out of the bullpen for the rest of the 2014 season.

[11] The Astros traded Foltynewicz, Andrew Thurman, and Rio Ruiz to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Evan Gattis and James Hoyt on January 14, 2015.

On April 30, third baseman Chris Johnson was moved to the 15-day disabled list, allowing room for the Braves to call up Foltynewicz to replace struggling Trevor Cahill in the starting rotation.

The Braves eventually assigned him to Gwinnett at the end of March to give him more time to recover from surgery.

[38] During spring training, Foltynewicz pitched primarily from a modified set position, to help mitigate struggles he had faced in previous seasons.

[51][52] Due to the elbow injury, Foltynewicz was unable to make the Braves' Opening Day start in 2019,[52] which instead went to Julio Teherán.

[55][56] Foltynewicz returned from the injured list on April 27, 2019, and made his season debut against the Colorado Rockies.

[65] Prior to the 2020 season, Foltynewicz and the Braves agreed to a one-year contract worth $6.425 million, without utilizing the salary arbitration process.

[75] During the 2017 season, Foltynewicz began holding Folty's Fridays, a community outreach initiative meant to engage children.